Some Things Never Change
by SamSam
Summary: Someone is attacked and everyone in the ER struggles to save the victim and know the reasons behind the attack.
1. Default Chapter

TITLE: Some Things Never Change  
AUTHOR: SamSam  
RATING: G - General  
CATEGORY: Carter/angst  
SUMMARY: Someone is attacked and everyone in the ER struggles to save the victim and know the reasons behind the attack  
THANKS TO: Sarah & Tana for all their help!  
DISCLAMER: "ER," the characters and situations depicted within are the  
property of Warner Brothers Television, Amblin Entertainment, Constant  
c Productions, NBC, etc. They are borrowed without permission, but  
without the intent of infringement. The story presented here is  
written solely for entertainment purposes, and the author is making no  
profit.  
  
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Some Things Never Change  
  
  
  
He struggled as the man forced him to his knees by the lake. The man was pushing him head first into the freezing water. The victim didn't know what to do to stop him. He was already hurting so bad from the beating he had just gotten, he didn't have the strength to fight back. He closed his eyes as the man fully submerged his head into the water. After the victim stopped struggling, the man pushed the rest of the victim's body into the water. He ran to his car and sped off.   
~~~  
"What do you got?"  
"Thirty year old white male, found face down in the lake. No pulse, no resps, we're bagging on 100%. ETA, 2 minutes."  
"Sounds pretty hopeless, how long was he down?"  
"No one knew at the scene, but the water is about 20 degrees, so we thought we'd give him a chance."  
"Continue CPR and bagging, we'll see you at our back door."  
"Out."  
~~~  
Mark, Kerry, Abby, and Haleh met the gurney as the victim was rushed inside.   
"Oh my God!" Abby shouted as she saw the victim's face.  
"What--you know him?"   
"Carter!" Abby looked at Mark with knowing concern in her eyes.   
"Give me the bullet." Mark ordered, remaining calm.  
They wheeled Carter into trauma one and began accessing his injuries.   
"He looks pretty badly beaten. What happened to him?" Haleh asked.  
"I don't know, what are his vitals?" Kerry asked, trying to keep on track.  
"No B/P. No pulse. No resps." Abby responded, teary-eyed.  
"What's his temperature?" Mark quickly asked.  
"Temp is 92." Haleh answered.  
"Pupils are dilated," Kerry said, wearily.   
"OK, let's get two warm large bore IVs in him, start a central line. Hook him up to a monitor. Get a trauma panel, chem. 7, CBC, and dip a urine. Get a chest, pelvis, and abdominal film. He needs a head CT. Let's start rapid re-warming. Get the defibrillator ready, and get me an 8-0 ET tube. Get a vent down here! Abby, find Luka and Benton. We're gonna need some more help with this one.  
"Get ultrasound in here! And set up lavage!" Kerry shouted, "His abdomen is tender."  
~~~  
"Vitals?" Benton asked as he charged in the room.  
"No pulse, no resps. No B/P. Pupils are dilated. Temp is 92.8 and rising," Abby stated.  
"He's got deep bruising on his chest. How do his lungs sound?" Luka asked as he entered the room.   
"Oh, man. Tension phumothorax! Get me a chest tube tray! Luka, intubate, while I do the chest tube!" Mark exclaimed.  
~~~  
"No bleeding in his abdomen. I'm checking the chest," Kerry said.   
"How's it look Kerry?" Benton asked.  
"Chest looks good, no bleeding."  
"I'm in!" Luka and Mark both exclaimed at the same time.   
"OK, well he doesn't need surgery," Benton said, relieved.  
"What's his temp now?"  
"95.8."  
"It's been almost 45 minutes-my arms are getting tired-all this CPR," Haleh said, exhausted.   
"Abby, take over!" Mark exclaimed.  
"Oh, wait! He's in v-fib!"  
"Get the paddles! Charge to 200!"  
"Charging."  
"Clear!"  
"Still in v-fib! Charge to 300! Clear!"  
"Nothing!"  
"Charge to 360! Clear!"  
"Sinus tach."  
"Oh, thank god."  
~~~  
"He's waking up! Carter! Carter, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can hear me!" Kerry yelled loudly enough so that Abby and Mark came rushing in the room. Kerry was relieved when she noticed eye contact and a small squeeze of her hand.   
"How's his pulse ox?" Mark asked.  
"98 on 100%," Abby stated.  
"Think we should extubate, Mark?" Kerry asked.  
"Sure, why not?" Kerry rounded up the necessary supplies as Mark explained the procedure. As the tube was pulled out of Carter's throat, he coughed roughly. Abby offered him a sip of water, which he accepted thankfully. Mark slipped a nasal canula around Carter's face and upped the O2 to 100%.  
"Do you remember what happened, Carter?" Mark asked.  
"No... What...?" Carter replied.  
"You came in in full arrest. We intubated you. We put in a chest tube for the tension phnumothorax from your broken ribs. Your body temperature was 92 degrees. We started you on rapid re-warming and shocked your heart back to normal rhythm about 45 minutes after you were brought in. Right now, you have a concussion, severe bruising, and three broken ribs."  
"That's it? ...I was...lucky."  
"Yes, you were. Carter, do you remember what happened at all? Did someone attack you?" Kerry asked.   
Carter looked away.   
"Carter?" Kerry asked. She noticed that he was crying.   
"Carter, a police officer will be in to talk to you as soon as you're ready. He won't come in until you're ready to talk. Okay?"  
Carter simply nodded.   
"Okay," Kerry said as she and Mark left the room. Abby stayed.  
"It looks like you need a new IV bag. I'll be right back," Abby stated as she left the room. She reappeared seconds later and started un-attaching and reattaching tubes. Carter was trying his best to ignore her. His face was wet with tears.   
"Carter, you know if you want to talk about it, I'm always here. Okay?" Abby said and looked to Carter for a response of some sort, but Carter never looked her way. She started towards the door, but monitor sounds stopped her. Carter's heart was racing. She looked at Carter and saw that he was seizing. She ran out into the hall and yelled for help.   
  
  
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Should I continue? You be the judge! 


	2. Awake in the Game

Mark, Kerry, and Haleh came back into the exam room with Abby. Carter was violently shaking with seizure on the bed.   
"He dropped his sats, pressure is 80 over 60 and falling!" Abby stated as she got a quick glance at the monitor while she began restraining Carter's movement.  
"Push 5 of dilantin right now!" Mark ordered.  
"Pulse is 130, resps are shallow at 8," Haleh said.  
"What's going on, Dr. Greene?" Abby asked.  
"I don't know. He must have a head injury that we didn't account for. Wasn't his head CT normal?" Mark asked.  
"Yes-it could be something new that just occurred. We should send him for another CT scan," Kerry replied.  
They all looked at Carter as he stopped seizing. He lay quietly on the bed now.   
"Well, that's better," Mark said.   
"Ugh... He's not breathing," Abby said quickly.   
"Okay, let's intubate, 80 of attomodate, 100 of sux! Mark ordered.  
Haleh bagged Carter as Abby got the supplies needed for Mark to intubate.   
"I'm in! Bag him!" Mark stated.  
"I've got breath sounds!" Kerry said. "We've got to get him to CT."  
"What are his vitals?" Mark asked.  
"Pulse is still tachy at 110, B/P is 105 over 70," Abby replied.  
"All right, we're going to need a vent down here. Page CT, tell them we're on our way up!" Mark said.   
They wheeled Carter up to CT.  
  
---  
  
A few hours later Chuni walked into the lounge. Abby was sitting on the sofa with a cup of coffee, deep in thought. Luka was pouring himself a cup as Chuni got a bottle of water out of the refrigerator.   
"Do you know how Dr. Carter is doing?" Chuni broke the silence.  
Luka looked at Abby, and Abby barely looked up. "He's in a coma. He's up in the ICU. He's got a bleed in his brain." Abby's answer was weary. She barely believed what she was saying.   
"Wow. Does anyone know what happened to him? I mean, I know he was beat up, but...wow. You know, you never think anything like this would happen to anyone you know. And this happens to Carter...twice." Chuni was talking to no one in particular. "He must be, like, the most unlucky guy I know."  
Luka nodded as he sat down at the table.  
"Yeah." Abby agreed. She wondered what Carter did to deserve this. He had been through so much in such a small amount of time. Just when things were starting to get on track for him, something else bad had to happen. She didn't understand.   
"Hey. You off?" Abby looked up and saw Susan staring back at her. "Where did she come from?" She thought.  
"Ugh, no. I'd better get back to work." Abby dumped the rest of her coffee down the sink and left the lounge quickly, trying her best to avoid Susan. Susan was nice and all, but their personalities didn't exactly mix.   
  
~~~  
The rest of Abby's day went by uneventfully. Only one big trauma came in, and Abby avoided it. All she could think about was Carter.   
At the end of her shift, she practically ran up to the ICU.   
"What room is John Carter in?" She asked at the nurses' station.  
A nurse led her to his room. She took a deep breath, and went inside.  
  



End file.
